Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Virus-induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato
Published on: June 10, 2009
Gene silencing results in instability of antibody production in transgenic plants
M De Neve1, S De Buck, C De Wilde
1Department of Genetics, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, University of Ghent, Gent, Belgium.
Abstract:
The stability of antibody and Fab expression was assessed in five different homozygous transgenic Arabidopsis lines. Each of these lines showed silencing of the transgenes that encode the antibody polypeptides, leading to instability of antibody production. However, each line had a different and specific instability profile. The characteristic variation in the level of antibody accumulation in each line as a function of developmental stage indicated that the T-DNA integration pattern played a role in triggering silencing, and also that the history and the integration position of simple transgene loci can influence the susceptibility to epigenetic silencing. In different lines with low antibody accumulation levels, methylation was found either in the promoter alone, in both the promoter and the transcribed region, in the transcribed region only, or in the transcribed region and downstream sequences. In conclusion, our data suggest that epigenetic effects result in different transgene expression profiles in each of the five Arabidopsis lines analyzed.
Related Concept Videos
Transgenic Organisms
Eukaryotic Transcription Inhibitors
Eukaryotic transcription inhibitors usually contain two distinct domains, a DNA...
mRNA Stability and Gene Expression
Cis-acting Elements involved in mRNA stability
Experimental RNAi
Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...
Production of Pharmaceuticals

